Of all the cult comedies that came before and after it, 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer stands out in particular mainly due to the fact that the cast now reads as a who’s who of Hollywood comedy. The much beloved (if theatrical bomb) starred, among others, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Molly Shannon, David Hyde Pierce, Janeane Garafalo, Judah Friedlander, Christopher Meloni, Michael Ian Black and A.D. Miles. Not bad for a film that failed to break $300,000 at the box office.
But despite its theatrical misfiring, the film found its audience over time as a cult hit of home video. Set in the fictional Camp Firewood, the film centred around a bunch of teen camp councillors and the various hijinks that ensued. And it featured, at the time, a bunch of actors who were far too old to be convincingly playing teenagers. Now that they’re all over or around the 40 year old mark, what better time to dip back into that well than now?
Variety reports that online streaming giant Netflix is interested in bringing the film back to life in the form of a prequel series featuring the same cast and characters. Though, understandably, one of the big roadblocks standing in the way of this is scheduling, given that more or less the entire cast went on to become wildly successful, there does seem to be a plausible way around that problem.
Much like that other beloved comedy property that was breathed renewed life by Netflix, Arrested Development, the Wet Hot American Summer series would see each episode focus on different characters, enabling actor scheduling issues to be eased due to not everyone appearing in each episode.
Though Netflix has not yet officially confirmed anything, it is rumoured that Universal Pictures is considering coming aboard for the project.
But until such time as official confirmation occurs, we’ll all have to just bide our time by fondling some sweaters.
